The current state of purple-matrix for use in Pidgin leaves a lot to be desired. For example, it's quite slow to connect and missing a decent amount of features which aren't just nice to have. OTOH, the format of chats is a bit more streamlined and clearer to read.

Here's hoping the next version of Pidgin implements something that resolves the slow connection so I can begin using Pidgin as my preferred Matrix client over Fractal or the like.